A Killer Night Filled With Caps As The Bolts Defeat Washington

By: Kyle Pereira

Coming into this game, the 54-13-4 Lightning had a chance to clinch the division. They needed a win and a Bruins loss. Their opponents? The Washington Capitals, the team that knocked the Lightning out of the playoffs last season in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. So, were you expecting a lot of goals in this game? Well, you got it. Physicality? Yep, you got that too. An Alex Killorn hat-trick? Probably not expecting that, but you got it anyways. The Lightning played a near perfect game in a playoff atmosphere against a red hot Capitals team.

 

1st Period

Like in most games this season, the Lightning brought the energy early. In a playoff game, it’s always important to draw first blood, and the Bolts knew that, and they did it. About 8 and a half minutes in, Tyler Johnson scored his 26th of the season, assisted by Nikita Kucherov (of course) and Brayden Point. It started with a beautiful pass from Kucherov, behind-the-back, to Brayden Point who broke it into the offensive zone. Point, flying down the wing, had Johnson cross-ice. He waited for Johnson to get around his man and hit him on the doorstep, and just like that, it’s 1-0 Tampa Bay. With that goal, Johnson now has scored in four straight games, as well as a five game point streak. About two minutes later, Alex Killorn scored his 14th of the season, unassisted. After Killorn deflected the puck deep into the zone, Holtby came around behind his net to settle it. He then played the puck up the boards that was mishandled by Niskanen. The puck popped loose along the boards and Killorn fired one towards the net. It went off the skate of Orlov in front, and past Holtby. Now it’s 2-0 Lightning. However, the Capitals would not let the Bolts run away with it early, as John Carlson scored his 12th of the season just about a minute and a half later, assisted by Evgeny Kuznetsov. Lightning lead cut to 2-1 now. But then the Lightning showed that they weren’t quite done just yet, as Alex Killorn scored his second of the game, and 15th of the season, assisted by Anthony Cirelli and Mathieu Joseph. After Victor Hedman collected the puck behind the Lightning zone, he outmuscled the Capitals forechecker and one handed a pass up the boards to Joseph. Joseph then one timed a pass across the ice towards Killorn, but it was off the mark, until, that is, Cirelli tipped the puck in front of Killer, who then marched down the ice, diced up Nick Jensen, and buried his own rebound. 3-1 Tampa to finish the first period of play. Shots were 16-9 for Tampa in the first frame.

 

2nd Period

The lone goal in the second was Alex Ovechkin’s 47th of the year, assisted by TJ Oshie and John Carlson, 7:33 into the period on the Power Play. The Lightning did have a PP opportunity, however, they looked pedestrian at best and couldn’t find the back of the net. Shots were 13-5 in favor of Washington, pushing the total shots to 22-21 Washington after two.

 

3rd Period

Back to the scoring we go. Almost 3 minutes in, the rookie defenseman Erik Cernak scored his 4th of the season, assisted by Ryan McDonagh and Ondrej Palat. After JT Miller took a stick to the face, the puck squeaked through to Palat on the boards. He easily swept a pass to McDonagh on the point, and he quickly sent it across the ice to Cernak. Cernak walked down into the slot and ripped a shot past Holtby, and the Lightning reclaimed their two goal lead. Ten minutes later, however, Ovechkin sent home his second of the game and 48th on the year, assisted by Dmitry Orlov and Brett Connolly, to get back within one. The Capitals pulled Braden Holtby with a minute and a half remaining to bring out their extra attacker. That’s when Killorn struck again, claiming his first career hat-trick and 16th of the season, assisted by Nikita Kucherov (of course). After a near goal from our own end, Kucherov raced down the ice and somehow beat the icing, worked it up the boards, eventually finding Killorn, and Killer sent it into the empty cage. The Lightning were back in front by two, 5-3. With less than a second left, Yanni Gourde got his 19th of the year, assisted by Adam Erne and Victor Hedman. Off the faceoff, there was a scramble for the puck. Erne was able to force it through the crowd, but right towards Ovechkin. Luckily, thanks to Hedman’s reach, he was able to chip it past Ovechkin and down the ice. Upon realizing that there was very little time left, Gourde flew down the ice, got to the puck, and flipped it into goal with 0.6 seconds remaining in the game. The final score was 6-3, as the Lightning downed the Capitals. The shots for the third period was 14-12 Tampa, and the final shot totals read 35-34 for Tampa. The Lightning were 3 for 4 on the Penalty Kill and 0 for 4 on the Power Play.

 

On Kucherov

Kucherov recorded ANOTHER multi-point night, with 2 assists against the Capitals. Kucherov now has 117 points on the year, closing in on 120 points, which hasn’t been done since Crosby did so in 06-07. Currently, Kuch is on pace for 133 points on the year, which is ridiculous.